


Growing Big Things From Small Ones

by Shatterpath



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: AgentCorpWeek2020, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, First Meetings, Gen, Pre-Relationship, Role Reversal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:35:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23418340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shatterpath/pseuds/Shatterpath
Summary: In some realities, people take a wildly different path.For the day 3 theme of: Role Reversal.
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 11
Kudos: 104





	Growing Big Things From Small Ones

**Author's Note:**

> Utilizes the prompt of: Tattoos/piercings. (Example: Tattoo Artist. Or, one or both of them have secret tattoos/piercings.)
> 
> Lena-centric [which I don't do nearly enough.]
> 
> So, I liked the tattoo artist concept from '5 Times' so much that I decided to take a different tack at it; an AU of my own AU, if you will. How often does an author get to do THAT? 😉😁
> 
> There was a great set of sketches Plastic-Pipes did ages ago with the sisters and Lena as punks, that was a real inspiration to my visuals for Lena in this. Unfortunately, said sketch no longer seems to exist in her collection and I'd feel weird using it now. Alex pretty much looks like season 1.

Sometimes, life takes unexpected turns.

Lena Luthor knew that all too well.

At least she'd grown to recognize the hell her 'beloved' older brother had been putting her through. The gutterpunks she'd befriended to her not-mother's horror had helped her see it, to find herself in the noise and chaos of the grimy underground, hidden her when she'd stolen what she could carry and vanished into the night.

Must be nice to get adopted by people who weren't wackos.

Fourteen years old and with barely a street-smart in her rich-girl head, she was angry and smart enough to survive. But she'd become surly, miserable and paranoid; every stranger a predator, every shadow a danger.

Then she'd met Sam.

Crumpled bills at an out of the way diner became food to fill her aching belly. It was decent eats, and in just a few trips, she noted that the pretty, rail-thin twenty-something with the warm smile was always just a little bit more generous with the portions, and never charged for the big glass of milk she would always set next to Lena's plate. While the cynical little asshole that she'd become sneered at the drink, it tasted wonderful and filled the little empty corners the meal didn't quite sate. Several times she even went hungry after peering through the grimy glass and seeing no Sam.

But it never went past business, their conversations neutral even as their smiles were warm, until the day a wiry little bundle of energy nearly ran Lena down. Even as Sam yelped, more in embarrassment than alarm, Lena steadied the child and helplessly returned that gap-toothed grin. In that meeting, Lena made a new best friend in Ruby, who spent the rest of her mother's shift talking Lena's ear off. 

It felt good to turn her Luthor genius into something other than raw survival or bilking a mark out of a few bucks. Sam shone like the sun in gratitude, babbling on about the stress of suddenly having nowhere to leave her daughter in safety and being terrified about losing the crappy job that kept them both fed and an admittedly scuzzy roof over their head.

That night changed the dynamic for good. In Sam, Lena found her guardian angel, who gave her a place to belong instead of just survive. In Ruby, she found purpose, falling for the smart little monkey utterly. In turn, the Arias duo caught a lonely soul in a third family that finally let her heal.

They quickly became a family of three, Lena moving in and cleaning up her act, Sam better able to function with the relief of someone reliable to help her out. Ruby was delighted with who she simply saw as new family and blossomed with the additional attention. Together they improved their station, learned new things and were at last able to take full control of their lives. Lena found work while Sam pursued an art unexpected and fascinating, in turn passing the skills on to her partner.

From Sam's wonderful mix of imagination and intellect came wonderful, organic art of ink carefully buried in skin. In learning, Lena copied her, but quickly found her own technique in a more stylized look of precise lines and the geometry of silent storytelling in tattoo ink.

They wore one another's work with pride and had talent and connections enough to find success fast. Playing the 'reclusive wacky artist' card only added to their appeal.

And while their success brought Lena's abusive brother sniffing around, he no longer held any power over her and gained some small respect for who she had become. She also accepted a hefty paycheck for signing away all rights she had to a life she never wanted. Now, no matter what gentrification might come sniffing around their dingy corner of New York, Lena and her girls would never have to leave the old factory building she owned right down to the last brick. 

In defiance of her second family and in honor of the first and last, Lena paid her good luck forward, turned the place into a gathering place for the creative and the lost. And in one corner where the winter sun slanted in to warm the old bricks and wood, she and Sam carved out their legacy.

Spring was almost on them, the sunbeams shrinking away as the days passed. They still tickled at Ruby's corner on nice days though, where toys and messy art had given way to books and a computer and a jumble of real art supplies over time. It was a boring Wednesday afternoon and the solitude had Lena itching for a little excitement.

What walked in was not at all what she expected.

The heavy and nearly unbreakable glass door swung outward with a silent displacement of air. A woman stepped in, which was no big deal, but this woman was not the usual chaos that was characteristic of this part of New York. She was an unpleasant reminder of an unwanted life left behind, chic and cool.

Still, there was a sharp edge to her that would almost let her fit in if not for the trappings of a rich life that kept her numb from the expression out. 

Despite herself, Lena was curious. 

Unwinding from her shadowy corner where she'd been lounging and doodling at her tattoos with non-toxic markers, Lena stepped closer with a casual, "hey."

She wasn't in the business of perky customer service and clients didn't find her by accident. The suit jumped a little and turned, expression neutral and tinged with wariness. She was pretty, with bobbed red hair, a cute nose and big, dark doe eyes that were probably deadly when she wanted to be. There was no hint of even a false smile on her and Lena surmised that this was a woman accustomed to holding her own. Probably with asshole men aplenty.

"I'm celebrating a milestone," the woman said, tone as flat as her carefully managed expression; armor to her emotions that every woman understood. "Kate Kane sent me here."

That earned a slow smile over Lena's face. "Ah. One of my favorites. Let's see what you want done."

The redhead seemed mildly taken aback by the no-nonsense approach and relaxed marginally. With a little nod to herself, she removed a crisp envelope from the leather satchel at her side that was more messenger bag than purse. Amused by the formality of the exchange, Lena flipped the envelope open and unfolded the three papers within. They were printouts of tattoos most likely found on the internet; a geometrically stylized atom with the electronic orbits containing the phases of the moon, a sun that would go nicely with it, a poorly drawn double DNA helix and a spiral galaxy.

"I really wanted a theme of growing big things from small ones," the stranger said softly and Lena felt that thrum of vulnerability in the tone. This was the sort of work she relished, the personal connection someone felt to something that they wanted to etch permanently into the canvas of their skin.

The smile that eased her natural wariness in turn eased the stranger and she automatically took Lena's offered hand.

"Lena."

"Alex."

"A pleasure. Let's get down to business."

Lena gestured to her workspace away from the twin inking areas where the trappings of her craft lay behind two-way mirrors. They had been a staple of the space since they built it; after all, they'd needed to keep an eye out on Ruby. In the comfort of the light clutter and everything carefully placed just the way she liked it, Lena pulled out a sketchpad and pen to start in on the process.

"Since you've brought me a variety of canned art, let's see what we can make."

Intrigued, Alex set her bag down and sat in the guest chair to watch Lena work. With the provided art fanned out to guide her, Lena pondered a moment and put ink to paper.

"How about we take this astral atom of yours and have the stylized circles lead down to the sun, which we can use some dashed lines to echo the circles to carry the theme, and twist them into a spiral galaxy?"

"I suppose the spiral contrasts with the helix," Alex added as she watched. The wistfulness touched something in Lena.

"Hmmm. What if we replaced these neutral circles with a hint of helix? That would tie everything together from atom to stars."

Grabbing a pencil, she quickly scratched the graphite into the shapes she meant. The sketch was rough, but Lena could picture it easily on her client's fair skin. When she looked up and saw that she had finally earned an unfettered smile, she knew that Alex could see it too.

"I love it."

That settled, a strangely comfortable quiet fell over them while Lena flipped to a new page and started a more cohesive version of the tattoo.

"Where did you want it? That affects scale."

It was the first time Alex faltered, Lena watching the little twist to her finely shaped mouth that seemed to take a decade off of her. It was cute.

"Originally I had thought my back, but then I can't see it. My arm would be nice to look at, but people get so stupid about tattoos."

Nodding in understanding, Lena slouched back in her chair and crossed her heavily-inked arms. Her smirk was a wry one. "They do. Still, all you'd need is a proper sleeve and a wristband or watch to hide the end. I know people who could match your skin tone so closely no one would ever know."

That perked Alex right up and Lena was struck by her natural beauty shining out from behind that placid corporate mask.

"That's true! It's not often I'd need to even care."

"Good deal. Right or left?"

"Don't care, I'm ambidextrous."

The teasing remark came with a smile that did uncomfortable things to Lena's insides. Was this attractive shark flirting with her? Despite the jolt of hormones and mixed feelings, Lena couldn't stop her wry grin.

"Smartass. Okay, different question. Do you want to lead with it? Or keep it more private. Since we traditionally shake hands with the right…"

"Ah, I see what you mean."

Abruptly, Alex jumped up and shrugged off her expensive wool coat to drape it negligently over the back of the chair. What Lena didn't expect was the thin cashmere sweater to follow it. There was a flash of smooth belly meat, firm with muscle, as the silky camisole shirt rucked up and then fell back into place. Distractedly smoothing her hair into place, Alex plopped herself back into her seat and set both forearms on Lena's desk.

"I don't generally wear more jewelry than this," she mused at the chunky watch and a simple gold bracelet. Notably, the expensive watch was on her right wrist, and worn with the face on the inside of her wrist. Not completely unusual, but interesting in context of her carefully cultivated appearance. 

"Do you always wear a watch?"

"Pretty much."

"That leaves you a built-in hide for the end of a sleeve if you'd like to take advantage of that."

"You're a good negotiator."

Again, Lena felt like she was being flirted with, but dismissed it with a wave. "Please. Natural selection."

They figured out exactly what scale the ink was to take, Lena adjusting her drawing to the length and breadth of Alex's forearm, tweaking it for nearly an hour before both were pleased.

"You want to get started today?" Lena asked casually and Alex grinned a smile that had grown more and more authentic as time had passed.

"Could we? I just need to make a call to my assistant."

Forcing down a grimacing eye-roll, Lena simply nodded and they both left the desk area to occupy the informal lobby and the actual studio space. After rearranging a few things with someone named 'Brainy' of all the weird things, Alex pushed open the swinging door to the studio, alert gaze taking everything in.

"We didn't discuss payment." The blunt comment was gentle and it made Lena pause. Right, that. It was reflex to shy away from the four figures the piece should have garnered, and Alex said flatly, "you're undercutting yourself. Knock it off. What is the thing really worth?"

Lena blinked in surprise and was suddenly laughing. She wasn't called out often and it felt good.

"Okay, you caught me. Old habits."

"You don't do this for the money."

"I absolutely don't do this for the money."

"Interesting."

"We all have our secrets."

To be a smartass, Lena tossed out a figure at the top end of what the time and effort this piece would be worth and Alex nodded. "Done."

With the forearm being easily accessible, adjusting the fancy hydraulic tattoo chair took only a few seconds and Alex made herself comfortable. It was quick work to soap her up and run the disposable razor over the workspace before a rinse and dry. Then came the transfer paper and the time-consuming process of getting the necessary basics in place before the main act.

Inexplicably, Lena found herself wanting to fill the quiet with talk. Hardly her style. Still, there was something about this enigma that intrigued her.

"Kate's never sent me a cold call before." Yep, the pretty lady had turned her into one of those gay disasters. At least Sam wasn't here to witness it. "In fact, she's never sent anyone my way at all."

"I'm not surprised. That porcupine doesn't have a lot of friends." There was a distinct edge of fond amusement in Alex's tone, reflected in her expression. Clearly Lena must have looked more questioning than she realized, because Alex chuckled softly. "She's best friends with my sister, who is a relentless ball of sunshine in pastels."

That made Lena blink and sit up from her work for the moment. There was no disguising her incredulity. "You can't mean grouchy asshole Kate Kane who is wearing about a pound of my ink."

At last, Alex's rippling laugh was earned, turning those dark eyes to rich soil in sunshine. "It's crazy, right? They couldn't be more opposite if they tried. I'm pretty sure the only similarities they share is species and X chromosomes."

Lena couldn't remember the last time she'd laughed with a stranger. It felt… good. Flustered, she moved on to the skin pen and added a few details to guide her hand. Then it was clipping the drawing to a nearby clipboard on an articulated arm and double-checking all the settings on her equipment.

"Make yourself comfy," she instructed and stood to go scrub up her hands at the nearby sink. "We'll be here for as long as you can stand it."

Returning to her workstation, Lena twisted her stool around and picked out several smaller needle tips and a premixed cup of black to set out as neatly as any surgeon. Anesthetic spray and a thin lube were added alongside a selection of antiseptic wipes. Only then did the nitrile gloves come out to keep fluids from getting mixed.

"You run a clean operation," Alex commented as her soon-to-be-violated skin was swabbed down and Lena quirked a little smile at her.

"The setting of anyone's work should be every bit as important as the work itself, right?"

That struck a nerve with Alex, Lena could see it. Yet, it wasn't necessarily a bad nerve.

"I couldn't agree with you more."

Knowing she had a neophyte, Lena started at a less sensitive place, off on the round of upper forearm, where the flesh was meaty and the skin not quite so thin. And placed the buzzing tattoo gun where, should Alex move, the damage could be covered with other elements of the drawing.

Hundreds of times, Lena had heard that harsh indrawn breath as the prickling burn of the blurring needles left their mark. It was almost a sweet sound, a visceral indication of being grounded in one's body, no avoiding the moment. Frankly, it was the silent ones that worried Lena.

The large brachioradialis muscle had jumped, Alex's hand convulsing into a fist before relaxing again.

"You good?" Lena asked quietly and Alex breathed deep, forced the bulk of the tension from her muscles and nodded.

"That will take some getting used to."

A smile played around Lena's mouth before she bent to her work again. "Just ride the endorphins and you'll do great."

Lena stuck to the heavier black of the moon faces while Alex got used to the burn and her muscles stopped jumping. Then came the elliptical paths of planets and electrons, the latter's orbits enclosing the moon faces. She took a break to do a better cleanup of her worksite than quickie swabs and let Alex catch her breath before settling in to work on the DNA helix made of stars that would lead the eye downward toward the wrist and the rest of the work. 

The buzzing tattoo gun was only a hairsbreadth from Alex's soft skin when Sam burst in. Cursing softly, Lena pulled back and glared at her partner.

"Sorry, sorry, but you need to come see this. Now. It's about your brother."

Lena's glare became a black storm and it took effort to not snap at Sam. What the hell did she give a damn about that bastard?

But Sam's expression stopped her. She looked downright unnerved and a strange, cold feeling crept up Lena's spine. Something was wrong. And as she had officially divorced herself of her hated adopted name and legacy years ago, something _big_ had gone wrong.

It took real effort to school the cold alarm in her belly and Lena had a lifetime of practice doing just that.

The ink was raw in Alex's skin, faint traces of blood speckled with the black. Dammit, she had really wanted to keep working on this, to maybe get to know the stranger under her hands.

But as she lifted her hands and tools away, there was no missing the almost physical sensation of Alex's gaze heavy on her. Oddly, there was a sense of connection there, of an empathy that hit Lena hard.

"I have to go," she heard herself say faintly. It felt like a stranger was speaking, a jarring sensation. "Apparently I have a family emergency. I'm gonna hand you over to my partner."

It was clear that there were words crowding Alex's throat, but she only nodded. The quiet sympathy in those expressive eyes made something in Lena lurch painfully… but not in a bad way… exactly.

"You're in the best hands. It was her that taught me, not the other way around."

And with a lingering sense of missed opportunity, Lena walked away.

But a soft inquiry from her attractive stranger paused her with a hand on the door.

"I could come back?"

Now Lena had suspected from the moment Alex had walked in, that this was not a woman who took the soft way very often. Certainly not with strangers anyway. And she felt the cold knot of fear loosen a little, curl her mouth into the hint of a smile. When she turned back, those doe eyes were as sweetly deadly as she had suspected.

"I'd like that."


End file.
